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Sunday, September 30, 2012

I see that other bloggers are talking about the Rootstech Earlybird registration of $149. As an Official Blogger I am able to offer you for just 12 more days a discount code that will give you an additional $20 off your registration. I am reposting my post from last week with this information.
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The first perk I can offer you is a BIG Saving on Registration for the full Conference so, if you are considering joining a few thousand other family history enthusiasts in Salt Lake City from 21-23 March 2013 it would be wise to register now and save.

You can save $90 off a 3-day, full conference pass when you use the discount code RT129 when registering. So you will pay just $129.

This discount is available until Oct. 12, 2012 to my blog readers!To Register go to rootstech.org.RootsTech, hosted by FamilySearch, offers an opportunity unlike any other to discover the latest family
history tools and techniques, connect with experts to help you in your research and be inspired in the
pursuit of your ancestors. You will learn to use the latest technology to get started or accelerate your
efforts to find, organize, preserve, and share your family’s connections and history.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The obvious choice for this T post would be Trove from the National Library of Australia but I'll leave that to someone else. In a blog post yesterday James Tanner spoke about "My top ten, can't miss, websites"; and that gave me an idea for a post. I am going to highlight my Top Ten Tools for Genealogy in alphabetical order (library training reigns).BloggerAlthough I have toyed with moving over to Wordpress I find that, although it annoys me sometimes, Blogger continues to serve me well as a blogging platform that enables me to reach out to other genealogists.ChromePresently my browser of choice I love Chrome because it works so well with the other Google products I use and has a fabulous collection of addons that I access from my toolbar to make my browsing experience efficient and painless.EvernoteMy previous posts tell my Evernote story: Family History Through the Alphabet – E is for …Evernote, Evernote - the presenter's pal, Google Docs and Evernote, Family HistorianI took a great leap of faith when I ditched my genealogy database package in favour of Family Historian. Some of my posts describe the process: Family Historian Progress, I'm on a winner with Family Historian, FamilysearchAs well as providing online access to many genealogical records Familysearch also publishes some useful blogs (I love Tech Tips) and the Familysearch Wiki. I have been fortunate to have early access to the new Familysearch Family Tree which is one of the most exciting initiatives for family historians in a long time.Google Docs, I use this package daily as my Office suite and love that I can access my documents easily from all of my devices or public computers. Here is how I use it for genealogy: Google Docs and Evernote

Google+My social network of choice where I can organise my contacts easily into interest groups and target my posts to those who have similar interests. I have a huge circle of genealogy contacts here.PicasaGoogle's free photo management tool that I use everyday to organise, edit retrieve and share my photos. It copes with my 90,000 superbly (and doesn't crash). TroveOur nation's treasure from the National Library of Australia has to be on my list. This site is the best thing since sliced bread.TwitterAlthough I don't use Twitter as much as I did before Google+ arrived on the scene I think Twitter is the best tool for sharing news and ideas from conferences and events. By following designated hashtags from events I can vicariously attend the event or, if I am there, can contribute to such an experience for others in the Twitterverse.As James said in his post "So there you have the top ten for today. Of course, I may change my mind anytime."

Today I took the Bambino north for an excursion to Tuggerah Library (one of Wyong Council's libraries) where I was greeted by the bubbly Reference Librarian, Michelle Goldsmith and work experience student Sharon (who happens to be one of my Twitter pals). I was there at the library's invitation to present a workshop on Social Media for Family History.

Michelle and Sharon made me feel most welcome and were very helpful as I set up for the gig. I saw a couple of familiar faces from the Family Historian Interest Group in the room plus a member of the Ku-ring-gai Historical Society where I am on the Committee; I also met a fellow geneablogger, Janelle, so I felt right at home. The venue was airy, comfortable and the computer and projector worked so things augured well for the talk.

Before I got started I put out a couple of messages on Google+ and Facebook asking my contacts to say g'day to the assembled group. Very few in the group had any experience of social media so they were most impressed when, within a few minutes, we received greetings from the US and Australia. Kylie Willison of South Australia was first off the mark , thanks Kylie.

Thank you to all of you who sent messages - you provided a great practical example of how social media works - this is more powerful than just showing a series of screenshots. See the messagaes below.

Thanks to the folk at Wyong for inviting me along. I may have bamboozled some of the group but I think most of them went away with some understanding of how social media can be used to enhance their genealogy experience. I only noticed one person nodding off so at least I kept most of them awake and that for me is an indicator of success.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

I received this press release by email this morning. I am not into publishing Press Releases that are going to appear on lots of blogs, This one is important to me as it further validates my decision to move to Family Historian software from Calico Pie.

I am pleased that developer, Simon Orde, has made this move as it ensures that we, Family Historian users, will have a product that meets shared international standards.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Calico Pie Limited leads the UK as a Founding Member of FHISO

London (United Kingdom) and Gilbert, AZ (USA) — September 23, 2012 — Calico Pie Limited and Family History Information Standards Organisation, Inc. (FHISO) announced today that Calico Pie has finalised its plans to become a founding member of the organisation. As part of this process, Calico Pie has designated its founder, Simon Orde, to be an organisational member representative. Simon will participate with other FHISO members from the global genealogical community in the development of standards for the digital representation and sharing of family history and genealogical information.

“Open standards make possible products and applications that even the creators of the standards themselves could never have imagined. Family Historian was built around one standard GEDCOM that has been hugely important for genealogy. We look forward to the opportunities and possibilities that future standards will bring. The emergence of FHISO is exactly what the genealogy world needs, and we are delighted and excited to be part of it”, said Calico Pie’s managing director, Simon Orde.

“Developing international standards requires a supporting network of vendors and users that extends across the globe. Thanks to the leadership of Calico Pie and Simon Orde, our world community became better connected today in a big way. This announcement is good news forFamily Historian users and genealogists everywhere”, said FHISO Organiser, Tony Proctor (UK and Ireland).

Simon Orde founded London-based Calico Pie Limited in 1995. Its award-winning product, Family Historian, is the United Kingdom's leading genealogy software program. Ease of use, integrated visuals and graphics, emphasis on getting the most out of the data and bringing a balance to pre-configured and user-customisable features are just some of the goals and philosophy behind the development effort. In January 2012, Family Historian 4 was honored with the “Best Buy” award from Which? Computing. To learn more about Calico Pie and Family Historian or to take the latest release, Family Historian 5, on a test drive, visit the company website, http://www.family-historian.co.uk/.

FHISO is a standards-developing organisation bringing the international family history and genealogical community together in a transparent, self-governing forum for the purpose of developing information standards to solve today’s interoperability issues. To learn more about FHISO, visit http://fhiso.org/.

Please join us in welcoming Calico Pie and its founder, Simon Orde, to FHISO!

The first perk I can offer you is a BIG Saving on Registration for the full Conference so, if you are considering joining a few thousand other family history enthusiasts in Salt Lake City from 21-23 March 2013 it would be wise to register now and save.

You can save $90 off a 3-day, full conference pass when you use the discount code RT129 when registering. So you will pay just $129.

This discount is available until Oct. 12, 2012 to my blog readers!To Register go to rootstech.org.

RootsTech, hosted by FamilySearch, offers an opportunity unlike any other to discover the latest family
history tools and techniques, connect with experts to help you in your research and be inspired in the
pursuit of your ancestors. You will learn to use the latest technology to get started or accelerate your
efforts to find, organize, preserve, and share your family’s connections and history.

I was born at The War Memorial Hospital, Waverley, NSW. It was a popular Eastern Suburbs Maternity Hospital in the 1940s and 1950s; many of my friends and aquaintances were born there. It was still operating as a maternity hospital when some of my friends were having babies in the 1970s but by the time my father was elderly in the 1990s it was a rehabiltation hospital and a place where the elderly could spend a few weeks to give respite to their at home carers.

I was hoping that I could find something about the history of my birthplace on Trove and was excited to find a link to an online book at the National Library

Sadly, when I selected the View Online option on the record I got this message "Item not found

The item you have requested is not currently available online or does not exist."

Monday, September 24, 2012

The Exciting news that I foreshadowed a few days ago is that I have been invited to be an Official Blogger for Rootstech 2013.

As this is a great honour in the geneablogging world I RSVP'd without haste. Having booked my aeroplane ride to the US and a post Rootstech recovery cruise several months ago I have been committed to attend for some time. Actually I was committed when Mr Geniaus (a supportive non-genealogist) who travelled with me to Rootstech this year commented just after the Conference "We'll do ...... when we come next year".

You see Mr Geniaus, who has no interest in research but loves family stories, was able to appreciate the value of this conference to a little old Australian Granny who loves technology and genealogy. Although research is not his thing he was infused with the excitement that is part of this event. He enjoyed meeting some of my online geneapals like Thomas MacEntee, Footnote Maven, Audrey Collins, Amy Coffin, Banai Feldstein, James Tanner, Randy Seaver, Dear Myrtle and Lisa Alzo and was able to see why I enjoyed meeting up with them in person. He realised that they are not a bunch of weirdos but a passionate and intelligent group of enthusiasts with a shared interest. In other words he approved.

I am excited, as the Antipodean Official Blogger, that a couple of my Australian Genimates will be travelling to Rootstech for the first time next year and I know of two others who have applied for financial support to attend. I look forward to introducing members of the Aussie contingent to my mates in Salt Lake City. I will try to report on the conference happenings for those who can't make the journey although, once the proceedings get underway, these posts may just consist of photos snapped along the way.

I believe that there will be a big update to the Rootstech site in the next day or so (I am timezone challenged so am not sure exactly when this will occur) and that earlybird registrations will then open. So please watch the Rootstech site. As it is already the 24th September in Australia (when I am allowed to share the news) I will schedule this post for early morning Salt Lake City time.

Thanks also to the Rootstech organisers for offering Official Blogger Badges in a range of colours other than Orange.

I have previously written how I use both Evernote and Google Docs in an effort to be an organised genealogist. As I add to my repertoire of topics for my speaking engagements I am finding that
Evernote is the perfect tool for gathering articles, book titles, websites, cartoons and images around the topics I am or may be preparing.

Although I have been using Evernote for this purpose for a while I only realised the value of this practice when I was speaking to Alan Phillips from Unlock the Past last week. We were chatting about the topics for my talks on the3rd Unlock the Past History & Genealogy Cruise in February next year when Alan said "Are you right to talk about xxx?" I replied "Yes, since we mooted that topic I have been gathering resources in Evernote so, if you need me to speak on it I can put together a presentation." Similarly when I submitted some proposals for Rootstech 2013 I made a concerted effort to collect resources around those topics.If you, like me, read lots of articles each day you will find that Evernote provides a great means of organising your stuff for easy retrieval. You will always be prepared when you get an invitation to share your knowledge with others.

Friday, September 21, 2012

There is something special about learning and solving problems together.

I have spent the last two hours in a room at Wyong Family History Group learning more about my genealogy software package, Family Historian, under the tutelage of enthusiast, John Owen. Each month John prepares a lesson on one of the features or functions of the package.

I am now blogging on the train home!

What I like about these sessions is that John demonstrates and then encourages us to practise our new skills on our own databases and laptops that we have with us for the session. John is always willing to answer our questions on a needs basis. This makes for effective learning.

Today we learnt about Named Lists and Flags. While I had an understanding of Flags the Named Lists feature was a revelation to me. Having someone demonstrate practical applications of the feature has shown me enormous possibilities for its use. My first task is to replace my Google Spreadsheet research tasks list with named lists in
Family Historian . As well as saving me many keystrokes it will mean that I can consolidate my work in one place.

Each month when I visit Wyong and learn some more my decision to move to
Family Historian software is once again validated.

If you were going to look for NSW BDMs on the weekend you may have to change your mind.

This notice has been posted on The NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages website - www.bdm.nsw.gov.au

"Break in service :- Computer system maintenance is planned from midnight Friday 21:09:12 to 7:00am Monday 24:09:12 AEST. Please accept our apologies during this time for a break in service to the entire website, including Family History online."

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Each week I agonise over what my topic will be for the letter of the week. S has been no exception; I have been sitting here dithering and multitasking being distracted from the task at hand while the answer has been staring me in the face in the form of a nearly completed powerpoint presentation that is open on my task bar.

S is for coincidence - the topic of the Powerpoint is "Social Media for Family Historians" - a presentation I am preparing for a gig at Wyong Library next week. So my topic for this week has to be Social Media.

In my talk I'll be covering these points:

¡What is Social Media?

¡What does one need to engage via Social Media?

¡Social Media Categories

¡How can Social Media help my genealogy/family history
research?

¡A closer look atBlogs, Facebook, Google+, Twitter

¡How does one get started in Social Media?

¡How does one manage Social Media?

Like any good presenter I am defining my topic before launching into my spiel. These are the definitions I will share:

¡SEO Zodiac – Social Media is simply people having conversations online

¡

¡Online Schools – Social media is technically a means for social interaction through the web

¡

¡Answers.com – The online forms of communicating to the masses, which include blogs, microblogs, social networking sites and podcasts

¡Webopedia – A term used to describe a variety of Web-based platforms, applications and technologies that enable people to socially interact with one another onlinebe covering these

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

After meeting up for breakfast at Tradies with a mate from The Ku-ring-gai Historical Society I settled myself in a front row seat for the performances and found myself sitting beside her.The morning's program with its varied range of topics was interesting and educative. All speaker notes and links can be found on the Conference website.

The Conference Committee, under the stewardship of Allan Murrin, organised a superb conference that appeared to go without a hitch. Thank you to all the members of Botany Bay Family History Society for looking after us so well. My special thanks go to Heather Clarey who looked after the speakers for her care and consideration in the months leading up to the event.

Friday, September 14, 2012

When I am at a conference I usually run around snapping photos to pop into blog posts. Today, however, I have let the side down so, dear readers, you will have to make do with a couple of snaps and a slab of text.

First impressions stick and mine was good as the venue has a large adjacent carpark and I was able to get a convenient spot when I arrived for the day (and when I returned for the Meet and Greet this evening). A very friendly doorman greeted me as I arrived and directed me to the expo area on the lower ground floor. There was no way I could have got lost as there were volunteers from the host Society at every turn to direct visitors to the conference area.As I was working on one of the trade stands demonstrating the Flip-Pal for Gould Genealogy I did not get a chance to wander around the area but I can report that there was a lot of shopping and socialising taking place. I enjoy showing off the Flip-Pal as it gives me a chance to sit down for most of the day and an opportunity to meet many new and interesting people that I would not otherwise meet. I had a break from the Flip-Pal in the middle of the day when I presented a workshop on my of my favourite topics, geneablogging. I hope that I was able to demonstrate the value of blogs for genealogy to those who came along. This old teacher loves having a chance to tread the boards; thanks to the Conference Committee for including me in your program. Thanks also to Michelle Nichols, Jonathan Auld and my two new Twitter mates Charlotte and Kelly for tweeting about my session. Having spoken nonstop for over three hours I enjoyed catching up with some old mates for lunch in the Club Brasserie where I had a yummy steak sandwich and a very long drink of mineral water. After a couple more hours of Flip-Palling I set out to find my motel. It is close to the venue, the sheets and pillows are clean but my room reeks of cigarette smoke (no wonder the windows I can't reach are wide open and letting in an Arctic breeze). Before I set out for the meet and greet I cranked up the aircon and left it running but this hasn't done a lot for the aroma in the room.I carpooled to Tradies for the Meet and Greet with some of my motel neighbours from the ACT. The atmosphere at Tradies where we were greeted by ball and chain decorations and Botany Bay people in period dress was a great improvement on the motel room. Special mention must go the the sartorially splendid Conference Chair, Allan Murrin, in his powdered wig, white hose, gold-buckled shoes and knee length britches. As someone who loathes standup functions I appreciated having a chair to sit on during the meal and proceedings. Congratulations toThe Botany Bay Family History Society for your friendly welcome, your superb organisation and an entertaining Meet and Greet function. I look forward to tomorrow's proceedings where I will endeavour to take a few photos.This episodic post sounds a bit like a 6th grade essay on "My holidays" but I hope it will convey some information about the Conference to those who could not be with us today.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Vicki Eldridge gave an excellent talk on the resources available to research Schools & Teachers in NSW. It was a practical presentation that offered lots of hints, resources and guidance for researchers.

Every day I read news items, press releases, articles and stories about genealogy, not in books or hard copy magazines, but on my laptop, netbook, my Android phone and my Android tablet.

I read just about everywhere.On the train, in the car (preferably when Mr Geniaus is driving), in the air, at sea, in waiting rooms, in bed, while hanging on the phone waiting to talk to a real person and in the bathtub (haven't given a device a bubble bath yet).

My reading of monographs has suffered as I find that I am reading more and more short online texts and less lengthy real paper tomes.

So what do I read online?

First stop with my morning coffee is Google+, followed by a quick browse of Twitter, then it's onto Google Reader that manages my RSS feeds; I read several hundred blogs and have a few news alerts set up. Lastly I turn to Facebook, my least favoured social networking site.

I dip into Zite when I have time to see what suggestions and links it has for me. The topics I follow on Zite are Android, Genealogy, Social Media and Technology.

For the daily news I check out the Sydney Morning Herald (not much genealogy news there) but a girl needs to keep up with the world around her.

If I have a spare few minutes I may dip into Trove. Tonight I have spent some time reading articles about my old school and I discovered some juicy bits about nuns that I will share some time on Trove Tuesday.

I am not really into ebooks preferring the smell and feel of paper for reading long texts but I do have a few digitised books saved in my Google Books account.

I use Librarything to keep track of the genealogy and other books that I read. I love the social networking aspects of this site that allows me to connect with other genealogists and see what they have in their libraries.

Whenever I have a few spare minutes I sneak in a bit of reading but do I still qualify as a bookworm?

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

An attempt is underway to create a Question and Answer site for genealogy on the StackExchange network. At least 200 people willing to add questions and give answers during a Beta phase are needed for the proposal to progress.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 26, 2012

Genealogists always have had questions on how to do their genealogy, how to find certain records, and whether there is any information available on the family lines they are researching. To date, there has not been one specific place they could go to ask their questions and get answers.

A new proposal for a Question and Answer site for genealogy is now underway at the StackExchange network. They are looking for genealogists interested in signing up and participating to help give the site the momentum it needs to get through the Beta phase. Once it meets the StackExchange network's required activity level, it will be added permanently onto the StackExchange network.

"This would be a Q&A site for genealogy, run independently of the interests of any genealogy company. It would be completely free for anybody to use." says Louis Kessler, one of the proponents of the proposal.

The StackExchange network current hosts 88 Q&A sites on a diverse range of topics ranging from Programming to Photography to Personal Finance to Homebrewing.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

When we pose a Question to a database or a website we are said to be querying the resource or making a Query.
Sometimes the results of our Queries when querying genealogy databases or websites are not as successful as we anticipate. In order for our queries to be successful we need to familiarise ourselves with the Quirks of the resources we are interrogating.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Anyone in Australia with the name Pusell is likely to be a cousin of mine. We all descend from a young errand boy, James Pusell who was transported on the James Pattison in 1837.

For this Trove Tuesday post I am sharing one of the newer articles that is available on Trove from the Australian Women's Weekly. I have never met the subjects of this story, Malcolm and Pam Pusell, but through this and other articles in digitised newspapers have learnt quite a bit about them and their special family.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Firstly I have been busy with the family. Our Father's Day celebration yesterday was enhanced by the Christening of our 9th grandchild (the 10th grandchild will be Christened later this month and number 11 should arrive around Christmas).

Secondly I'm having a temporary return to the workforce. A family member's secretary has resigned so it's a case of Mum to the rescue. I do enjoy the interaction with the lovely people I meet during the course of my (temporary) work and would happily work on except that it gets in the way of our globetrotting.